Experts and public policy in contemporary art: A FRAC's purchasing criteria

By observing the deliberations of a purchasing commission in a FRAC (Fonds regional d'art contemporain) in France, light is shed on the way decisions are worked out in a situation predefined by the familiarity of experts with colleagues and artists. The mainly implicit definition and use of selection criteria allow room for arguments ''on the margins''. These arguments reveal the plurality of ''logics'' that, underlying judgments, enter into a hard-to-achieve coherence between heterogeneous constraints. The factors of coherence and uncertainty in judgment are successively examined as well as the ways of reaching certainty. The ''work of extreme singularization'', which characterizes judgments about the value of a work of art, and the quasi autarky of the world of experts and connoisseurs of contemporary art am brought to light.